Mary Kay Ash biography
Founder of a cosmetics empire

Mary Kay Ash of Mary Kay Inc. was born on May 12, 1918 in Hot Wells, Texas. When she was six years old, she had to look after her ill grandfather while her mother was the working to provide for the family. Throughout her life, Mary Kay's mother had a huge impact her daughter, and she attributed her indomitable spirit to her mother who encouraged her with the words, "You can do it."

She started studying as a doctor and selling part-time, but she proved so adept at selling that she soon did it full time. She sold products for Stanley Home products and went on to World Gift. At World Gift she eventually became a sales director, but was passed over for promotion so many times, that she decided to call it quits after 25 years of corporate sales.

She turned her attention to writing a book which turned out to be the plan for her business. On September 13, 1963, with $5,000 in savings, she opened her dream cosmetics business with her son Richard Rogers. She had bought the formula for a skin-care cream and started operating from a small Dallas storefront. With nine salespeople, or beauty consultants as she called her team, they made nearly $200,000 profit in the first year of operation.

The company's success soared, especially after an interview with her on 60 minutes. She also had the trademark reward for her top salespeople: pink cadillacs. The company went public in 1968, but went private again in 1985. To this day, it remains one of the largest private firms in the US. Mary Kay Inc. also rates well in Best Company to Work For surveys that is done on a regular basis.

In 1987 Mary Kay Ash retired and became chairman emeritus of the company. Mary Kay measured her company's performance on P&L, not profit and loss as in many other companies, but rather, People and Love. By 2004 the company had sales of over $1.8 billion in 30 markets and had an independent salesforce of 1.3 million.

Mary Kay Ash left the world a poorer place when she died on November 22, 2001. Her son, Richard Rogers, continues to build the company he helped to create with her. The Mary Kay Ash charitable foundation also continues to make contributions to cancer research and preventing violence against women. She once said that, "My goal is to live my life in such a way that when I die, someone can say, she cared". And Mary Kay Ash did.

Mary Kay Ash Links

• Mary Kay Ash tribute
• Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation
• Mary Kay Ash books at Amazon.com